The NLB Group
Statement by the President of the Management Board of the NLB
Statement by the President of the Management Board of the NLB
Dear business partners, shareholders and employees of the NLB Group!
The NLB performed well in 2006 and managed to implement most of its goals, while some of them were even exceeded. The growth in the volume of operations and profit before tax, which exceeded EUR 100 million at the level of the Bank and EUR 150 million at the level of the Group, prove that the NLB is in good shape and on the right track.
In our strategy we defined the further growth and consolidation of the NLB Group, as it represents our answers to the basic development questions: what, where and how. The buyers of our services and other business partners in 15 countries are provided a complete banking and financial range. The operations of the Group, i.e. its banks, financial companies and insurance companies, is a reflection of the needs and our abilities to keep expanding the domestic market in the EU as well as in SE Europe, the Russian Federation and some neighbouring countries. It is our pleasure to say that, at this stage of the NLB Groups development, the NLB has managed to achieve its presence in all principal target markets and become an important player in some of them.
The excellent financial results achieved in 2006 are even more brilliant if we consider that the lions share of the NLBs activities was focused on further expansion of the NLB Group and the simultaneously ongoing consolidation and harmonisation processes. The intensity of the transition to the euro together with the very demanding introduction of the International Accounting Standards was a decisive technical and substantial factor in last years modernisation of processes and the information technology in NLB d.d. and in other Slovenian parts of the NLB Group. The test we passed with flying colours required enormous financial and work inputs which however never jeopardised the achievement of an excellent performance.
The firm and uniform organisation of the Group in the banking area and the areas of leasing, factoring and forfeiting, which represent the traditional core of our activity, and in other activities such as asset management and insurance operations which are also gaining importance, is a precondition for planning and efficiently managing the development of the entire NLB Group. Of course, this process will not stop now although
it will give way to the processes of consolidation, the construction of efficient models of optimal management, control over the quality of operations and the overall assurance of business excellence.
Optimistic forecasts of economic growth and the related social standards of the population in practically all markets where the NLB Group is present provide a sound basis for the forecast of its successful development, connected with adequate profitability of the shareholders equity and appropriate earnings of its more than 8,000 employees.
On behalf of all members of the Management Board, allow me to thank all of you who helped us, with your own work or positive attitudes to our work and co-operation, to make 2006 one of the most successful years in the entire history of the NLB Group.
Whenever we are asked about the key advantages of the NLB in a situation of tough competition and the great challenges that await us, our answer is as follows:
The advantage of the NLB Group lies in the fact it has excellent knowledge of the history of our clients in individual markets, knows their current needs and can foresee their future.
Annual Report 2006